Santa Rosa - France's Stephane Peterhansel of BMW on Friday won the 13th and penultimate stage of the Dakar Rally in the auto category, a 725km run between San Rafael and Santa Rosa in central Argentina.
Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah (Volkswagen) finished second, 1min 21sec behind Peterhansel, with overall leader Carlos Sainz of Spain finishing 3min 53sec behind the Frenchman.
Sainz's lead over his team-mate Al-Attiyah in the general classification was subsequently cut to just 2min 48sec ahead of Saturday's final stage, which takes the drivers back into Buenos Aires.
Earlier, Norwegian motorcyclist Pal Ullevalseter won the 13th moto stage of the race.
The victory took Ullevalseter (KTM) into second place in the overall standings, leapfrogging the Chilean Francisco Lopez - known as 'Chaleco' - who finished 5min 35sec behind the Norwegian in fourth place on his Aprilia.
France's KTM rider Cyril Despres, 43sec behind Ullevalseter in second place, continues to enjoy a healthy lead of 1hr 4min at the top of the motorbikes general classification.
Spain's Marc Coma, another KTM rider, finished third on the day, 2min 46sec off Ullevalseter's pace.
Coma was handed a controversial time penalty of 6hr 22min for illegally changing a wheel during the seventh stage and is now 6hr 32min behind Despres in the overall standings.
Portugal's Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) remains fourth overall, with Frenchmen David Fretigne (Yamaha) and Alain Duclos (KTM) fifth and sixth respectively.